HELP ! Why so much gas?

[Seedling]

Hi, I have a 16Kw Worcester condensing boiler running off bottled Calor Gas. It's only been up and running a few weeks yet has already used 2 Giant bottles of gas in 16 days. The boiler is set at a mid point range and the room stat at 18/20 degrees. Also the timer is set for just 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening yet it seems to be consuming a ridiculous amount of gas.

Any ideas PLEASE!

 

[compheat]

I take it this is an LPG boiler ??? and not NG

 

[bengasman]

Poor quality cylinder running 24/7?
Boiler on a lot more without you realising it?

 

[JohnD]

how much gas is there in 2 giant bottles?

 

[bengasman]

how much gas is there in 2 giant bottles?

About 2 giant amounts.

 

[rego]

by 2 giant bottles i assume you mean 47 kg
one of those a week sounds about right to me

 

[muggles]

Me too

 

[rojaca]

missuss turnin the 'kin stat up whilst yer out?!

 

[XKESTONMAN]

propane 47kg bottle 2=94kg
boiler full rate 16kwh x 0.072kg/h=1.152kg/h
64 hours x 1.152kg/h=73.72kg/h
73.72
minus
94
equels20.28kg/h left over approx

 

[Seedling]

Ha Ha Ha Sorry guys, yes I do mean 47kg LPG cylinders. I didn't want you to think I had any idea what I was talking about so that your replies would be easy for me to digest.

Is it the general concensus that my gas consumption is about right or do I need to be looking for a problem. Oh and my missus is more likely to turn the thing off than raise the stat, although my 2 teenage daughters might do it (if they new how)

propane 47kg bottle 2=94kg
boiler full rate 16kwh x 0.072kg/h=1.152kg/h
64 hours x 1.152kg/h=73.72kg/h
73.72
minus
94
equels20.28kg/h left over approx

This sounds impressive but in laymans terms what are you saying about my gas consumption?

By the way, thanks for the replies so far.

 

[D_Hailsham]

Also the timer is set for just 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening yet it seems to be consuming a ridiculous amount of gas.

You are letting the house heat up from cold every time, so no wonder your consumption is high.

 

[Seedling]

Also the timer is set for just 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening yet it seems to be consuming a ridiculous amount of gas.

You are letting the house heat up from cold every time, so no wonder your consumption is high.

Good point but at what level do you think we would see an advantage to increasing the time. I have to say we do live in a cold house. We have just had the loft insulation quadrupled and cavity wall insulation done. HOwever we still have the old 'Crittal' metal windows. Replacing tyhem is not an option at the moment as I am without work.

 

[JohnD]

it is a myth that keeping your house warm all day uses less heat than keeping it warm part of the time.

Heat loss is proportional to (temperature difference inside and out) multiplied by (time)

there are some other variables about size and insulation, but they are going to be fixed for any one house.

You could experiment with turning the stat down to say 15 degrees and increasing the hours. The house will tend to be damper and less comfortable if you have intermittent heating. Total gas usage will increase, but gas-per-hour will reduce and you will be more comfortable.

You can also use double-sided tape and transparent plastic film or sheet to cut down heat losses from windows, and condensation, it works just as effectively as double glazing but cheaper and not as pretty.

 

[D_Hailsham]

it is a myth that keeping your house warm all day uses less heat than keeping it warm part of the time.

The heat requirement per unit of time, when raising the temperature is greater than the requirement for maintaining the temperature at a steady state. That is why rads and boilers are oversized by 10-20% to allow for heating up. If the premises are continually occupied and maintained at a constant temperature 24 hours a day the heating up allowance can be much lower.

You can also use double-sided tape and transparent plastic film or sheet to cut down heat losses from windows, and condensation, it works just as effectively as double glazing but cheaper and not as pretty.

Really? So you don't need argon filled double glazing or heat reflective glass?

And you don't need to keep the gap between the glass panels high enough to provide adequate insulation, but not so high that you have thermal currents circulating between the two layers, which negate the effect of the double glazing?

To the OP
What sort of time and temperature controls do you have? More sophisticated controls will quickly save money, though I appreciate your current circumstances may make changes impossible.

 

[kevplumb]

the question was about gas usage not a load of side issues as to why